WHO WE ARE

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) constituted vide Gazette Notification No. 683 dt. 6th June, 2007 to combat the organized illegal trade in wildlife and their derivatives by the Govt. of India under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The Headquarters of the Bureau is at New Delhi having five Regional Offices stationed at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata & Bhopal; three Sub-Regional Offices at Amritsar, Guwahati and Cochin; five sensitive border customs posts at Ramanathapuram in Tamilnadu, Moreh in Manipur, Motihari in Bihar, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Nathula Pass in Sikkim to provide support for control of trafficking of wildlife produce and its derivatives.

WHAT WCCB DO

Section 38Z of WLPA, 1972 provides for powers and functions of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau :

(i) collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime activities and to disseminate the same to State and other enforcement agencies for immediate action so as to apprehend the criminals and to establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank;
(ii) co-ordination of actions by various officers, State Governments and other authorities in connection with the enforcement of the provisions of the Act, either directly or through regional and border units set up by the Bureau;
(iii) implementation of obligations under the various International Conventions and protocols that are in force at present or which may be ratified or acceded to by India in future;
(iv) assistance to concerned authorities in foreign countries and concerned international organizations to facilitate co-ordinations and universal action for wildlife crime control;
(v) develop infrastructure and capacity building for scientific and professional investigation into wildlife crime and assist State Government to ensure success in prosecutions related to wildlife crimes;
(vi) advice the Government of India on issues relating to wildlife crimes having national and international ramifications and suggest changes required in relevant policy and laws from time to time.

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been empowered vide Gazette Notification No. 1367 dated 02nd Sept., 2009 to register, investigate and file complaints in wildlife crime cases under Section 55 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 upto the rank of Inspectors.

The Regional Deputy Directors of the Bureau are designated CITES Assistant Management Authorities. These offices assist and advise Customs authorities in the inspection of consignments of flora and fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM Policy governing such an item.